How Digital Menu Boards Increase Restaurant Sales (And How to Set One Up for Under $100)

Static menu boards have a problem. Every time you change a price, add a seasonal item, or run a promotion, someone has to print a new sign, swap it out, and hope customers notice.

Digital menu boards fix all of that. But they also do something more interesting: they actively increase how much each customer spends.

Here's the data behind why restaurants are switching, and how to set up your own digital menu board for under $100.

The Numbers: Why Digital Menus Outperform Static Signs

This isn't just about looking modern. Digital menu boards measurably impact revenue:

Upsell rates increase by up to 33%. Dynamic menus can highlight high-margin items, combo deals, and add-ons in ways static boards can't. Motion catches attention. Rotating promotions create urgency.
Perceived wait times drop by 35%. Customers watching a screen feel like they're waiting less. The content gives them something to engage with while they decide what to order.
Order speed improves by 20%. Clear, well-organized digital menus with photos help customers decide faster. Less time staring at a cluttered board means faster throughput during rush hours.
Dayparting lifts revenue by 15-20%. Showing breakfast items in the morning and switching to lunch at 11am means every customer sees exactly what's relevant. No more "sorry, we stopped serving that at 11."
Promotional items see 30%+ more sales. When you feature an item on a digital display with a photo and a price, it sells. Static text buried on a crowded board doesn't compete.

What Makes Digital Menus More Effective

They move

Human eyes are wired to notice motion. A subtle animation, a sliding transition between menu categories, or a rotating featured item grabs attention that static text never will.

You don't need flashy animations. Even a gentle crossfade between menu panels keeps eyes engaged.

They adapt to time of day

A coffee shop at 7am should show espresso drinks and pastries. At noon, it should show sandwiches and iced drinks. At 5pm, maybe it's wine and appetizers.

With digital menus, this happens automatically. Set up your daypart schedule once, and the right menu appears at the right time. No staff intervention needed.

They make updates instant

86% of restaurants change their menu at least once a year. Many change seasonally or weekly. With a static board, each change means reprinting, shipping, and swapping.

With a digital menu, you update from your phone. Price change? Done in 30 seconds. New seasonal item? Add it with a photo and it's live immediately. Ran out of something? Remove it before customers order it.

They sell with visually

A photo of a burger outsells the word "burger" every time. Digital menus let you show high-resolution images and videos of your food. Customers eat with their eyes first—give them something worth looking at.

They reduce decision fatigue

A well-designed digital menu can rotate through categories (drinks, mains, desserts) rather than showing everything at once. This focused approach reduces overwhelm and helps customers commit to choices faster.

You don't need expensive commercial displays or enterprise software. Here's a budget-friendly setup:

What you need

Item	Cost	Notes
TV/Monitor	$0 (existing) or $100-200 (new)	Any TV with HDMI works
Fire TV Stick	~$30	Or Raspberry Pi (~$60)
PiAds account	Free	Software and CMS included
Total	~$30-60	Using your existing TV

If you need a new screen, a 43" commercial display runs $200-400 and is designed for long hours. But honestly, a regular consumer TV works fine for most restaurants.

Step-by-step setup

1. Choose your display location

Behind the counter is classic, but consider these spots too:

Above the order line (customers look up while waiting)
Near the entrance (catches attention before they sit down)
Drive-through window (if applicable)
Table-side for specials (smaller tablet displays)

Portrait orientation works great for long menus. Landscape works better for featured items and photos.

2. Connect your player

Plug a Fire TV Stick or Raspberry Pi into your TV. Connect to your venue's WiFi. The PiAds app displays a pairing code on screen.

3. Create your menu content

You have a few options:

Design in Canva — Free templates for digital menu boards. Export as images or videos.
Take photos of your food — Even phone photos with good lighting work. Customers want to see what they're ordering.
Use simple text layouts — Clean typography on a dark or branded background is perfectly effective.

Upload your content to PiAds as images or videos. Arrange them in a playlist in the order you want them to rotate.

4. Set up daypart schedules

Create separate playlists for each time period:

Breakfast (opening - 11am): Coffee, pastries, breakfast items
Lunch (11am - 3pm): Sandwiches, salads, lunch combos
Evening (3pm - close): Dinner items, drinks, desserts

PiAds schedules automatically switch between playlists at the times you set. Set it once and forget it.

5. Go live

Toggle your screen to live. Your digital menu is now running. Update it anytime from your dashboard—from your phone, laptop, or anywhere with internet.

Design Tips That Actually Work

Keep it readable

Font size matters. If customers can't read it from the ordering line, it's too small. Test readability from 10-15 feet away.
High contrast. Dark text on light backgrounds or light text on dark backgrounds. Avoid medium gray on slightly-less-medium gray.
Limit items per screen. 6-8 items per panel is ideal. Rotate through multiple panels rather than cramming everything on one screen.

Use photos strategically

Feature 2-3 hero images per panel, not photos of every item
Invest in decent food photography (even iPhone photos with natural light work)
Show the finished dish, not raw ingredients

Highlight what matters

High-margin items get the biggest placement
Combo deals should be visually distinct from individual items
Limited-time offers create urgency with clear end dates
New items deserve a "NEW" badge for the first few weeks

Animate with restraint

Gentle crossfades between panels: good
Flashing text and spinning graphics: bad
Video of food being prepared: great for ambiance
Constant motion everywhere: distracting and headache-inducing

Your digital menu board doesn't have to show only menu items. During slower periods or between menu panels, consider:

Daily specials with countdown ("Today only!")
Loyalty program promotion ("10th coffee free")
Social media handles and hashtags
Customer reviews from Google or Yelp
Behind-the-scenes content (your roasting process, farm partnerships)
Community events happening nearby
Local business ads — earn revenue from your screen during off-peak hours

That last one is important. Your menu board is valuable real estate even when it's not showing your menu. Between lunch and dinner, why not earn advertising revenue from local businesses? PiAds handles this automatically through its marketplace.

Common Questions

"How long do digital menu boards last?" Consumer TVs running 12-16 hours daily typically last 3-5 years. Commercial displays designed for signage last 5-7+ years. Either way, the ROI is recovered in months, not years.

"Will it distract from the ordering experience?" The opposite. Digital menus help customers decide faster. The key is good design—organized, readable, not overly animated.

"What if my internet goes down?" PiAds caches content locally on the player device. If WiFi drops, your menu keeps displaying. It just won't update until connectivity returns.

"Can I show different content on different screens?" Yes. Each screen gets its own playlist. Show the main menu on one screen, drinks on another, and daily specials on a third.

"Do I need to hire a designer?" No. Canva has hundreds of free digital menu templates. Upload your prices and photos, export, and upload to PiAds. Many restaurants do this themselves in an afternoon.

The ROI Math

Let's run the numbers for a typical coffee shop:

Setup cost: $60 (Fire TV Stick + mount)
Monthly software: Free with PiAds
Average order increase from upsells: 10-15%
Average ticket: $8
Daily customers: 150
Additional daily revenue from upsells (conservative 10%): $120

That's roughly $3,600/month in additional revenue from a $60 one-time investment. Even if the real impact is half that, the payback period is measured in days, not months.

Add advertising revenue during off-peak hours and you're looking at an asset that pays for itself many times over.

Ready to Switch to Digital?

Your static menu board is leaving money on the table. A digital menu board costs less than a single day's revenue to set up, pays for itself within the first week, and gives you instant control over what your customers see.

Head to piads.co and set up your first screen. Ten minutes from now, your menu could be digital.